Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

It might be a bit premature to call this a Skype killer.

Going toe to toe with just the video chat, it's quite cool and seemlessly integrates.

Skype's services extend just beyond video chat. Their telephone service is spectacular. Being able to have customers call you on your skype line and you can get it anywhere in the world is pretty cool. Skype also supports the call-forwarding whereas if your customer tries to call you on your skype line it will transfer to your cell phone.

I imagine that with Google, they already have plans in the works to offer those same services. But they'll have to match all of Skype's toys in order for me to switch my business over to them.

Two things.

1. Even though Gmail has GoogleTalk built into their webmail, it is one of the least used IM services. Adding video is cool, but will anyone use it?

2. Why would you want to kill Skype? Ebay has been so disappointed with it that they are probably going to sell it off soon.

Don't get me wrong -- I think that video and audio will indeed eventually take off. I also love the idea of making it simple, where it is built in to a service that you already use.

But I don't think it's going to have some kind of big impact over the next year or so. Non-Apple users don't even have a mic or web cam a lot of the time with their PC. My own Mac Pro has no cam or mic, although my Apple laptop does. I think it's unlikely I'm going to go buy a mic or camera for it.

Does anyone remember David Foster Wallace's novel, Infinite Jest? Where "videoconferencing" had turned into this weird thing where people wore a stylized mask whenever they spoke on video, because they figured out that they really liked audio-only better, because you could multi-task and only half pay attention while you were talking on the phone, but not on video. So the masks allowed people to make video more like talking on the phone.

I use Skype for my business in working with development contractors and SEO firms. What I like about Skype is the ability to dial out as well as receive voice mail. We are expecting to use Skype in the future for simple customer service inbound calls to give the business a deeper and more robust presence for our customers.

Now the killer part might be if Google merges this app to the Android phone apps and allow different inbound calls to a single cell number. They would have mirror what Skype does and allow inbound and out bound VOIP calls.
This would allow my cell phone to have multiple uses. I would have the cell number for general business and personal calls and the VOIP Google app on the android phone for online customer service.

Bottom line the future is bright as companies like Google merge technologies and make it easier for small businesses to act like big businesses.

Thanks for the great blog BTW.

Hi John,

I am also a big fan of Google Apps, but this won't replace Skype for me (yet) because I use a Skype subscription with SkypeIn phone, voice mail and call forwarding. I wrote a Blog post about Skype for Small Businesses recently, called Saving Money with Skype. This is a UK based item, but could however still be useful to your readers.

Kind regards,

Greg

I think if Google get's their way everything we do online will be powered by a Google product. Google is starting to remind me of another company... Microsoft! I am sure this will be another great tool and when the time comes I may even switch from Skype to Google's version. I do have to say Skype is one of my favorite tools and I use it everyday! If I am in my office 75% of my outbound calls go through Skype. For me Skype has been a huge resource while growing my business in Canada and Australia!

Alan Underkofler
http://www.twitter.com/alanunderkofler

I would be scared too much time time or money to develop any kind of online application or site because it seems like you could only have 1 of 2 fates...

1. Be bought by Google (feedburner, youtube, etc)
2. Be made irrelevant by Google (a million other companies)

There are tons of brilliant designers out there who develop great applications to try and make a living and then Google just takes the idea and makes it free. Best they can hope for is a job at Google.

I don't think its a 'Skype killer' yet, since Skype is also a phone system. But I do think that Google may be initially trying getting into the WEBEX and Live Meeting space (as part of google apps) But, keep in mind that Google does own GrandCentral, a phone application, and they may try to integrate these two in the future.


Jeff Spiller
www.Irunabiz.com

I am convinced Google will save us all. What other company provides this many practical applications for the small business for free?

I doubt its a killer :)
so far, skype can be installed on many OSs.
am a linux user and I was very disappointed to see they didn't develop one for us yet!!
I feel google cant come with new ideas any more, or they trying to dominate the www :)

I believe the video and voice capabilities of these IM tools have some value for personal use but for businesses they are overrated. Most cell phone calling plans offer an inexpensive unlimited option and with the tax write off the fee is not worth a worry.

The real Skype killer will be the application that can effortlessly talk to the disperate mix of IM platforms integrating voice, video and the other tools.

Just my thoughts for whatever they are worth.

John Easton
http://www.customerflypaper.com/about

Hehe, Google keeps putting other companies out of business. I'm still sticking to skype though.

Well I seem to be bucking the trend, I'm not a Skype fan. I've found the connection to be inconsistent and unreliable outside of my region: Western Canada. Connections to Toronto and Mexico have failed on numerous tries. So I look forward to Google's entry: it's a win/win. Competition will be good for Skype.

We've used Skype a few times in meetings and besides the extra hardware, like webcams and all that it seemed pretty useful.

I haven't checked out Google's version but I would imagine that it might be a little easier to use like a lot of their products.

For me, Google Talk has already been a Skype killer. I've been using the call feature since it launched a couple years ago and that was enough for me to toss Skype. This only makes it better!

skype is the best phone service for small a business give it a try

This is a tricky one...you have to bear in mind that for these types of systems to take hold commercially they must be adopted by an awful lot of people to become financially viable. As one of the posters above mentions, Ebay are looking to off load Skype owing to the lack of customer usage. The technology is there at present to make this type of communication channel pretty seamless and is also integrated into many new machines these days (ok, perhaps the Mac is lagging behind) so it really boils down to effective marketing and customer understanding. I think this will need to adopted at a far greater rate that it currently is before we really turn the corner and it becomes the weapon of choice in terms of communicating across the copper wires (yes, we still use copper wires here in the uk...and yes, it is slow!).